Gary Imlach

ITV’s La Vuelta show is being produced where I work. Last week I dropped by the suite to offer coffee to the team behind the programme (I own a coffee shop). I met Phil Liggett, Roger Hammond and Gary Imlach. All were very nice. Roger was off the next day to prep for the Tour of Britain and we had a little chat about the new carbon frames (contentious). Phil was as amiable as one would imagine, his distinctive voice heard from outside the suite door. I mentioned to Gary after chatting about coffee (he knows his coffee) that I enjoyed the book he wrote about his football-playing father and would he sign it. Gary said, ‘of course, I’m just grateful you bought a copy!’

Well today I was at Tesco stocking up on supplies (a glamorous job). When I got back he’d been in the shop and left me a signed hard back version of his book. He appeared again a few minutes later because he owed 50p. I told him not to be so daft and that his presenting over the years was worth more than 50p. He ignored my sycophancy and went on to explain that he’d bought a job lot of hard back copies because when the paper back version came out they were going to be sent away to be pulped. A bit like Alan Partridge’s autobiography, Bouncing Back.

I admire Gary Imlach a great deal for his dead-pan presenting, his scavenging for angles, his catholic taste in shirts, and his obvious love of a pithy phrase. Today I admire him even more for making the effort to dig out a book and sign it before bringing into my cafe for me to keep.